Four-hundred decisions that led to debacles—and what we can learn from them.
8/19/2002
Working from a study of 400 bad decisions made by top managers over the past twenty years—from the Firestone tire recall to the Waco siege—Paul C. Nutt says he can trace most failures to a few common tactical mistakes. Of BeechNut's "bogus apple juice" and Disney's commitment to developing an amusement park in France, Nutt says, "…decision makers embraced a quick fix. The first seemingly workable idea that was discovered got adopted. Having an "answer" eliminates ambiguity about what to do but stops others for looking for ideas that could be better." A substantial appendix contains details of the study, a bibliography, and risk-estimate computations for the New York City blackout. Covering more than just strategies that lead to disaster, Why Decisions Fail also includes strategies likely to lead to success. — Melissa Clarke